Where? Everywhere! With a Twigentacle! by Elaine A. Powers, Author

Authors are frequently asked where they get their story ideas. Often, the response is, “Where don’t I?” Story ideas can come from any location and any activity.

For instance, I was riding a placid Button (my horse) when I decided to practice ducking under tree branches. On trail rides, Button frequently cuts a little close to the trees, giving me a new understanding of why Western riders wear long-sleeved shirts. The spines on those trees are rough. Blood-letting used to be popular in days of old but not today.

Back to my ducking practice. A lovely mesquite grows next to the arena. I sit under it when I let my horse out for some free time, a turn-out. My plan was to ride Button under the branches, leaning forward, low on her neck. I successfully cleared the first branch, the ends scratching gently over my helmet.

Branch ends catching in the helmet can be a problem. I know this because there was that time when the branch end caught in the groove of my helmet and yanked me backwards. This time, the branch ends flowed over my helmet. I was happy.

Until the second branch wrapped around my neck. I thought I could push through it, accepting that I would lose some skin to those mesquite spines—but, “No!” The branch tightened on my neck and pulled me off my horse! It was as if it had looped around my neck. I grabbed onto the bars of the round pen to try to make my descent to the desert floor more graceful . . . Ha! My horse stood over me, snickering.

What does this have to do with story ideas? This experience not only makes for a good blog post—right?—it inspired me to create a new kind of tree for a story. This tree has tentacles instead of branches. I came out with a new term for it, too: “Twigentacles.” If Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carroll can make up their own words, I figure I can, too. I thought about “tangletwigs” or even better, “entanglewigs,” but settled on ‘twigentacles.’

Which one is your favorite?

I think as long as the new word’s meaning is obvious, I’ll keep making them up! Wouldn’t it be fun to add a new word to my new books?

I hope you’ll check out my children’s science books at my website, ElaineAPowers.com, or here at Lyric Power Publishing, LLC. It’s my belief that learning science should be fun. That is why I write science into rhyming verses or adventure tales—to inspire new scientists like myself, now a retired biologist. Grab some fun science for your children, soon! And check out Lyric Power Publishing’s comprehensive activity sheets and workbooks, too.